Children Watching the Sunset
by guyw1tn0nam3
Summary: After seeing Toph worry about giving a speech for Sokka and Suki's after wedding ceremony, Aang proposes a light activity to help calm her down. What comes next is a moment that can only be shared between Sokka and the Maid of Honor.


**A/N: **Someone I met requested a oneshot of the Sukka wedding that honed in on the Toph/Sokka friendship. I have writer's block for another story currently, so I decided to take a shot. This is what I came up with.

**Summary: **After seeing Toph worry about giving a speech for Sokka and Suki's after wedding ceremony, Aang proposes a light activity to help calm her down. What comes next is a moment that can only be shared between Sokka and the Maid of Honor.

* * *

><p><strong>Children Watching the Sunset<strong>

Toph fumbled it with her hands. To her left, a concerned Aang looked at her. To her right, a hungry Sokka was busy gobbling down fresh meat.

"Um, Toph?"

"Yeah, what's wrong Aang?"

"Why are you holding a piece of paper?"

"Oh this thing?" Toph raised it up in the air and waved it around nonchalantly. She laughed halfheartedly. "I'm just practicing for my speech."

Everyone at the table stopped eating their meals for a moment and gave Toph quizzical stares. Nobody wanted to say anything. It was right there in front of them, the perfect joke that Toph had abused over and over again. Yet, each and every one of them held their tongues, fully knowing that whoever took advantage now was going straight to the bottom of the floor.

Each and everyone one them, excluding one clueless wolf.

"How are you even reading what's on the paper?" Sokka mused, pointing at the random scribbles scrawled on the parchment. "You're blind."

Katara smacked her forehead. Aang looked away. Suki cringed and awaited the blow. Surprisingly, though, nothing came. Toph just looked back at Sokka for a moment, nodded, and then put the paper down, and resumed reciting random bits and pieces of what must have been a haphazard speech. Everyone looked at Sokka, who was the last to realize that he had placed himself in mortal danger and breathed a huge sigh of relief when Toph stared up at the sky, mouthing words.

Everyone had known that Toph had initially refused to be the maid of honor. "If anything, let me just decorate your wedding," Toph would shout, crossing her arms and huffing. "I guarantee that whatever I come with will be a lot better than Sokka's fantasy wedding sketches."

It was a job that just didn't suit Toph. Wearing a dress. Carrying someone else's dress. It wasn't just Toph that was upset about the decision too. Her parents, who by some miracle had found out about her position, had reservations regarding the matter too. Being the maid of honor was just another confirmation that Toph had still not found a suitable husband. Years after the war, a woman of Toph's age and stature should have already been securing at least one husband by now.

So when Sokka explained that Toph, who had already reluctantly agreed to the job, was going to have to present a speech talking about how great Sokka was, Toph nearly fell apart in despair.

No one had expected her to be this unnerved by it.

"Hey guys!" Aang finally spoke up, trying to break the impasse. "I've got an idea!"

"When we celebrated holidays in the Air Temples," Aang explained. "We always ended it by writing down our wishes on a piece of paper and giving them to the head monks."

"What kind of holidays did you guys celebrate?" Katara asked. "I can't imagine a bunch of monks celebrating and eating cake."

"But we did!" Aang said, while taking out small pieces of parchment. "Celebrating the full moon every month. Celebrating everyone's birthdays. Celebrating the start of a new year. We monks basically had a holiday for almost everything. It was just to show that we thought everything in this world had some kind of hidden meaning."

Aang passed around the pieces of paper to everyone on the table. When he arrived at Toph, Aang shook her for a moment to catch her attention and placed the paper in her hands. He then asked a nearby waiter to bring along a few brushes and ink.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Toph demanded, startled by Aang's interruption. "Can't you see I'm busy Aang?"

"I thought we needed something to keep you from getting too nervous about this whole speech thing. It really isn't the biggest deal in the world," Aang laughed, scratching his bald scalp. "And I guess I'm the _best man_ for the job. Eh? How was that Sokka?"

"Terrible."

"Aw come on Sokka, I thought it was pretty funny."

"That's because you're his girlfriend. Everything he says is funny to you."

"Okay guys, let's focus," Aang calmed everyone down, keeping an eye on Katara to see if she really was laughing at everything he was saying. "So remember guys, the point of this activity is to write the wish you desire most on that piece of paper!"

Everyone looked away for a moment, pondering and wondering what they mostly desired. Suki was finished first, followed by Sokka and Katara. Aang looked satisfied as they all looked back at him, waiting for the next part of the activity.

Only Toph was stuck on the paper. Aang distinctly remembered Sokka teaching her some basic words, so he wouldn't think that Toph would have that many difficulties expressing some simple thoughts on paper. But the way that Toph stared at the paper signaled that perhaps there was more to her wish than met the eye.

Soon, all eyes were turned on Toph, who could do nothing but stare at her paper in deep thought. "The wish I desire the most huh?" Toph whispered quietly, before staring sightlessly back at the paper, the ink dripping slowly from her brush.

Finally, after what seemed like an hour, Toph messily scrawled something on the paper before folding it in half. She then stared at the paper, as if trying to discern what type of scribble she had written on the page. Satisfied that she must have written the right words, she breathed a deep sigh and looked back up.

"Okay, everyone done?" Aang clapped his hands together. "Alright, I want you to fold them now, and pass them to the person to your right!"

"What?" Toph snapped, looking back at her paper frantically. Her cheeks flushed a deep red as she noticed the Water Tribe warrior looking expectantly at Toph's wish. "You mean I have to show my wish to Sokka? What kind of trick is this Aang?"

"It isn't a trick," Aang waved his hands in defense, a little offended. "We did this all the time back at the temples! We would pass our wishes over to the next person and they would read it and then throw it away. It was a way of getting rid of our desires, washing away the embarrassment from having desires, and learning to let them go. It was common Air Nomad custom I think."

Toph's cheeks burned bright red, and her pride was only saved by the gleaming sun that made everyone's cheeks shine as red as hers. Sokka passed his to Suki. Suki passed hers to Katara, and Katara passed hers to Aang. Once again, everyone had done their part, and Toph, who had still not even finished memorized her speech, was left out. The last one.

"Here," Toph looked away, passing the note to Sokka. She then stood up and walked away. "Read it and fling it if you want. I'm going to keep practicing."

As Toph stampeded off, visibly upset, Sokka looked back at everyone.

Tentatively, Sokka opened the note and recognized a peculiar design scrawled messily across the surface of the paper.

"I'm sorry Aang," Sokka folded the paper in his hands. "Suki, I'll be back later okay?"

Sokka stood up also and went after Toph.

* * *

><p>"I first met Sokka when I was busy beating wrestlers in Gaoling."<p>

"At first, I thought he was kind of a brainless Meathead. Now, I know that he has a brain, but he's still a lazy Meathead who sleeps in half the time."

"No, no, no, that doesn't sound right," Toph smacked her head. She had never felt frustrated over something so seemingly trivial. "Sokka said I need to lay off the insults at least once."

Something had been bothering Toph ever since Sokka had announced that he and Suki were getting married. It wasn't the romantic feelings that she had set aside. It wasn't the friendship that Toph knew wasn't in jeopardy. These would be normal reactions, normal concerns, but Toph understood that the word normal didn't fit in too well with Sokka.

She had no reason to suspect that the relationship between her and Sokka would change. Yet, why was it that she was trying so hard on this wedding speech as if it was her last chance to talk to Sokka? It was something she had been struggling with, more so than the actual speech itself.

Toph swung her legs over the grassy cliff. Below, the waves crashed against the beach, washing over the rocks and covering the shore with sparkly rocks lined up neatly against the setting sun. The wind kicked up from underneath her, and she felt the nice cool breeze brush against her bare skin underneath her dress. She was unsure how she looked like, but her short figurine didn't match up well with the dresses, so she just assumed that she looked kind of silly with all of the make up and dressing up that Katara had put her through.

"Yo!"

Sokka came and sat down next to Toph. They stayed silent. It was a comfortable silence, and all Toph wanted to do was just to punch Sokka so hard on the arm that it would send him flying off the cliff. But of course, she had promised not to punch Sokka for the day, so Toph held it in.

"So," Sokka started out slowly. He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. "I saw your wish."

Sokka held up the paper, and though Toph couldn't see, she could envision the ugly words sketched across the parchment.

"I want to continue my journeys with Sokka."

"Yeah about that," Toph laughed awkwardly. "I didn't think anyone was going to read those, so I just…you know…"

"Are you concerned about us?" Sokka asked. Toph was surprised. Sokka had gotten it right the first time for once.

"It's just," Toph looked up at the sky and sighed. "Now that you and Suki have this marriage thing going on, it just means all the more burden is on me now. I'm the only one in the group that's still not married, even though I was supposed to be married way before any of you guys started showing interesting in the other gender. I'm the only one that doesn't really have any commitments to anyone. I have a school, but that's really about it."

"I kind of just…" Toph puffed her cheeks out for a moment. "I just wanted things to stay the same way for a while longer. So that I wouldn't have to worry about these things you know?"

They were quiet again. Sokka contemplated Toph's words for the duration, thinking about what would be the best thing to say to her. He looked out at the sunset, and then he had an idea.

"Hey, Toph," Sokka said. "Can you feel the sun?"

"Isn't one blind joke enough for a day?"

"Not that, Toph," Sokka shook his head. "I mean, can you tell me what the sun feels like?"

"It feels," Toph thought about it for a moment. It was interesting, the sun. She had never seen it, and yet it was always there somewhere. "It feels nice and warm, like what you would feel if a badgermole was taking care of you."

"Do you want it go away?"

"No," Toph realized.

"But it has to," Sokka explained. "The warmth we feel from the sun goes away every night."

"But it's okay," Sokka gripped Toph's shoulder. "Because the sun rises every day. Every sunset we get just means another sunrise to look forward to."

"And those are my feelings for you," Sokka laughed, a bit embarrassed at the way he was putting it. "Certain things might have to end. We might not be able to do everything that we always wanted to do together. We may not even see each other for a good amount of time. But in the end, I'll always come back. I'll always be that warm sunshine like person that you can rely on and look forward to having fun with."

It sounded lame. It sounded stupid. And yet it sounded so much like Sokka that Toph's urge to hit him again rose to unsurpassed heights. Toph laughed loudly as Sokka finished. It was the loudest and happiest laugh Toph had heard since the wedding.

All of the tension, all the stress, all the nervousness. They flew away the instant Sokka had said those words. They were reassuring, yes. But most of Toph's anxiety was solved simply because this was another example of why Sokka would always remain Sokka. The funny, goofy, unabashed boy that Toph had the most fun with.

Her best friend.

"Oh man, you crack me up," Toph chuckled. "Oh that was good."

"Do you at least understand what I'm talking about?" Sokka scratched his head, his lips turned in a frown.

"Oh sure," Toph stood up, snickering to herself. "I know exactly what you're talking about."

* * *

><p>"And so," Toph wrapped up her speech. The audience was in tears, not from emotional pain and sadness, but from laughter. All night, Toph had been cracking countless jokes at Sokka, as if she could no longer hold in the urge to physically hurt him and decided to reallocate that urge into her speech. "To finish off I leave you with a few quotes from my good friend Sokka."<p>

"Life is like the sunset," Toph declared. "Life may set, but it always rises the next day!"

The audience cackled, while Sokka stood ashamed in the corner with a Suki slowly tapping his back.

"Never forget," Toph thrust her hand out elegantly. "My feelings for you are like the sun. Rising and setting. Sometimes it's warm. But then other times it just gets really cold too."

It was too much. Toph was unstoppable. On fire. Invincible.

"Well," Suki patted Sokka again as the Water Tribe warrior attempted to shield himself from the eyes all around the wedding ceremony. "Let's just look at it this way."

"At least you helped return her to her normal state."

Sokka looked back at Suki and glared.

"Every sunset is just another sunrise we have to look forward to!" Toph bellowed now before her voice turned quiet. "Unless of course, there's a solar eclipse. Then maybe there's no sun. There's just some dark dot in the sky that we used to invade the Fire Nation with!"

"You have no idea how much I regret it now."

Sokka sighed, but even he couldn't help but look back at the blind girl at the podium and give a wide smile.


End file.
